Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-fxdwj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-09T12:59:51.841Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. Angold*
Affiliation:
Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Hospital, Birmingham; Bloomfield Clinic, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
M. Prendergast
Affiliation:
Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Hospital, Birmingham; Bloomfield Clinic, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
A. Cox
Affiliation:
Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Hospital, Birmingham; Bloomfield Clinic, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
R. Harrington
Affiliation:
Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Hospital, Birmingham; Bloomfield Clinic, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
E. Simonoff
Affiliation:
Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Hospital, Birmingham; Bloomfield Clinic, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
M. Rutter
Affiliation:
Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Hospital, Birmingham; Bloomfield Clinic, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Adrian Angold, Developmental Epidemiological Program, Department of Psychiatry, Box 3454, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.

Synopsis

Great advances have been made during the last 20 years in the development of structured and semi-structured interviews for use with psychiatric patients. However, in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry there have been weaknesses in the specification and definition of both symptoms and the psychosocial impairments resulting from psychiatric disorder. Furthermore, most of the available interviews for use with children have been tied to a single diagnostic system (DSM-III, DSM-III-R, or ICD-9). This has meant that symptom coverage has been limited and nosological comparisons have been inhibited. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA) represents an attempt to remedy some of these shortcomings. This paper outlines the principles adopted in the CAPA to improve the standardization, reliability and meaningfulness of symptom and diagnostic ratings. The CAPA is an interviewer-based diagnostic interview with versions for use with children and their parents, focused on symptoms occurring during the preceding 3 month period, adapted for assessments in both clinical and epidemiological research.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angold, A. (1989). Structured assessments of psychopathology in children and adolescents. In The Instruments of Psychiatric Research (ed. Thompson, C.), pp. 271304. John Wiley & Sons: New York.Google Scholar
Angold, A. (1994). Clinical interviewing with children and adolescents. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry–Modern Approaches, 3rd edn. (ed. Rutter, M., Taylor, E. and Hersov, L.), pp. 5163. Blackwell Scientific Publications: Oxford.Google Scholar
Angold, A. & Costello, E. J. (1995). A test–retest reliability study of child-reported psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA-C). Psychological Medicine 25, 755762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bird, H. R., Canino, G., Rubio-Stipec, M. & Ribera, J. C. (1987). Further measures of the psychometric properties of the children's global assessment scale. Archives of General Psychiatry 44, 821824.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N. (1987). Inquiring about the bizarre: false positives in diagnostic interview schedule for children (DISC) ascertainment of obsessions, compulsions, and psychotic symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 26, 639644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cantwell, D. P. (1988). DSM-III studies. In Assessment and Diagnosis in Child Psychopathology (ed. Rutter, M., Hussain Tuma, A. and Lann, I. S.), pp. 336. The Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Chambers, W. J., Puig-Antich, J., Hirsch, M., Paez, P., Ambrosini, P. J., Tabrizi, M. A. & Davies, M. (1985). The assessment of affective disorders in children and adolescents by semistructured interview: test–retest reliability of the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children, present episode version. Archives of General Psychiatry 42, 696702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, A. J. (1986). Assessment and diagnosis of affective disorders in children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 27, 565574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, A. J., Edelbrock, C., Kalas, R., Kessler, M. D. & Klaric, S. H. (1982). The National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC). National Institute of Mental Health: Rockville, MD.Google Scholar
Costello, E. J., Edelbrock, C. S. & Costello, A. J. (1985). Validity of the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children: a comparison between psychiatric and pediatric referrals. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 13, 579595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edelbrock, C. & Costello, A. J. (1988). Structured psychiatric interviews for children. In Assessment and Diagnosis in Child Psychopathology (ed. Rutter, M., Tuma, A. H. and Lann, I. S.), pp. 87112. The Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Fisher, P., Shaffer, D., Piacentini, J., Lapkin, J., Kafantaris, V., Leonard, H. & Herzog, D. (1993). Sensitivity of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, 2nd edition (DISC-2.1) for specific diagnoses of children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 32, 666673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gould, M. S., Shaffer, D., Rutter, M. & Sturge, C. (1988). UK/WHO study of ICD-9. In Assessment and Diagnosis in Child Psychopathology (ed. Rutter, M., Hussain Tuma, A. and Lann, I. S.), pp. 3765. The Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Graham, P. & Rutter, M. (1968). The reliability and validity of the psychiatric assessment of the child. II. Interview with the parent. British Journal of Psychiatry 114, 581592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrington, R., Hill, J., Rutter, M., John, K., Fudge, H., Zoccolillo, M. & Weissman, M. M. (1988). The assessment of lifetime psychopathology: a comparison of two interviewing styles. Psychological Medicine 18, 487493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herjanic, B. & Campbell, W. (1977). Differentiating psychiatrically disturbed children on the basis of a structured interview. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 5, 127134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herjanic, B. & Reich, W. (1982). Development of a structured psychiatric interview for children: agreement between child and parent on individual symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 10, 307324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, K. (1993). Structured interviews for assessing children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 34, 4968.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, K. & Saunders, W. (1989). Internal consistency of a diagnostic interview for children: the child assessment schedule. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 17, 691701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, K., Klein, J., Fitch, P., McKnew, D. & Cytryn, L. (1981). The Child Assessment Schedule. Catalog Selected Documents Psychology 11, 56.Google Scholar
Hodges, K., Kline, J., Stern, L., Cytryn, L. & McKnew, D. (1982 a). The development of a child assessment interview for research and clinical use. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 10, 173189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, K., McKnew, D., Cytryn, L., Stern, L. & Kline, J. (1982 b). The child assessment schedule (CAS) diagnostic interview: a report on reliability and validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 21, 468473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, K., McKnew, D., Burbach, D. J. & Roebuck, L. (1987). Diagnostic concordance between the child assessment schedule (CAS) and the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children (k-SADS) in an outpatient sample using lay interviews. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 26, 654661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodges, K., Cools, J. & McKnew, D. (1989). Test–retest reliability of a clinical research interview for children: the child assessment schedule. Psychological Assessment: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1, 317322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodges, K., Saunders, W., Kashani, J., Hamlett, K. & Thompson, R. J. Jr. (1990). Internal consistency of DSM-III diagnoses using the symptom scales of the child assessment schedule. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 29, 635641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kovacs, M. (1983). The Children's Depression Inventory: a self-rated depression scale for school-aged youngsters. University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine: Pittsburgh. (Unpublished report.)Google Scholar
Piacentini, J., Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Schwab-Stone, M., Davies, M. & Gioia, P. (1993). The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children – revised version (DISC-R). III. Concurrent criterion validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 32, 658665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Remschmidt, H. (1988). German study of ICD-9. In Assessment and Diagnosis in Child Psychopathology (ed. Rutter, M., Hussain Tuma, A. and Lann, I. S.), pp. 6683. Guilford Press: London.Google Scholar
Robins, E. & Guze, S. B. (1970). Establishment of diagnostic validity in psychiatric illness: its application to schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 126, 107111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. & Graham, P. (1968). The reliability and validity of the psychiatric assessment of the child. I. Interview with the child. British Journal of Psychiatry 114, 563579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Bolton, P., Harrington, R., Le Couteur, A., Macdonald, H. & Simonoff, E. (1990). Genetic factors in child psychiatric disorders. I. A review of research strategies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 31, 337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwab-Stone, M., Fisher, P., Piacentini, J., Shaffer, D., Davies, M. & Briggs, M. (1993). The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children – revised version (DISC-R). II. Test–retest reliability. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 32, 651657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaffer, D., Gould, M. S., Brasic, J., Ambrosini, P. J., Fisher, P., Bird, H. R. & Aluwahlia, S. (1983). A children's global assessment scale (CGAS). Archives of General Psychiatry 40, 12281231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaffer, D., Schwab-Stone, M., Fisher, P., Cohen, P., Piacentini, J., Davies, M., Conners, C. K. & Regier, D. (1993). The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children – revised version (DISC-R). I. Preparation, field testing, interrater reliability and acceptability. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 32, 643650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K. (1974). Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms, Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar